Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta Legendary Pride lives on!!!
- jessetorres358
- Mar 23, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: May 15
Cesar Chavez & Dolores Huerta founded LUPE, a community union.
How familiar are people with the name Cesar Chavez? If you haven't heard of him, you're not much different from me. I didn't know who he was until a few of my former coworkers informed me. Today, on March 23, 2024, I had the opportunity to attend a pride event organized by Lupe's group. Lupe aims to unite the community and inspire it towards greatness.
The story of Cesar Estrada Chavez begins near Yuma, Arizona, where he was born on March 31, 1927, named after his grandfather, Cesario. He became acquainted with justice, or rather injustice, at a young age. Cesar spent his childhood in Arizona, and the modest adobe house where he was born deceitfully and taken from his family by unscrupulous Anglos.
In 1938, he and his family moved to California, initially living for a short time in La Colonia Barrio in Oxnard before returning to Arizona after a few months. In June 1939, they went back to California, settling in San Jose. They lived in the barrio called Sal Si Puede's, which translates to "Get Out If You Can." Cesar believed that breaking the cycle of poverty required hard work and making sure the children went to college. His belief proved to be correct. Education is always the best way to go.
During his childhood, he had an aversion to school, probably because he spoke only Spanish at home. Most of the teachers were Anglo and communicated exclusively in English. Speaking Spanish was not allowed at school. He remembers being punished with a ruler on his knuckles for violating this rule. He also recalls that some schools were segregated, and in the integrated ones, he felt like a monkey in a cage.
Although his early school education was lacking, he developed a passion for learning later in life. His office walls in La Paz (United Farm Worker Headquarters) are filled with hundreds of books on topics like philosophy, economics, cooperatives, unions, and biographies of figures such as Gandhi and the Kennedys. He held the belief that “The end of all education should surely be service to others,” a principle he followed until his unexpected passing.
In 1946, when he was 19, he joined the U.S. Navy, which was segregated at that time, and served for two years. In 1948, Cesar married Helen Fabela. For their honeymoon, they toured all the California Missions from Sonoma to San Diego, reflecting the influence of education. They made their home in Delano and began their family. First came Fernando, then Sylvia, then Linda, followed by five more children.
Caesar Chavez had 8 quotes That he would use.
If you really want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with him...The people who give you their food give you, their heart.
If you want to remember me, organize!
The burdens of generations of poverty and powerlessness lie heavy in the fields of America. If we fail, there are those who will see violence as the shortcut to change.
Although we would like to see victory come soon, we are willing to wait. In this sense, time is our ally. We learned many years ago that the rich may have money, but the poor have time.
Farm workers are society's canaries. Farm workers—and their children—demonstrate the effects of pesticide poisoning before anyone else.
People forget that the soil is our sustenance. It is a sacred trust. It is what has worked for us for centuries.
Where we have organized ... injustices soon pass into history.
Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducated the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.
It's ironic that those who till the soil, cultivate and harvest the fruits, vegetables, and other foods that fill your tables with abundance have nothing left for themselves.
Preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.
We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure.
In 1962, Cesar established the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers, or UFW. Dolores Huerta joined him, marking the union's inception. That same year, Richard Chavez designed the UFW Eagle, and Cesar selected the black and red colors. Cesar recounted the creation of the eagle, explaining how he asked Richard to design the flag.
Richard struggled to create an eagle he was satisfied with until he finally drew one on a piece of brown wrapping paper. He squared off the wing edges so that union members could easily draw the eagle on handmade red flags, which would serve as a powerful symbol to inspire the farm workers. Cesar emphasized the importance of the flag by saying, “A symbol is an important thing. That is why we chose an Aztec eagle. It gives
pride . . . When people see it, they know it means dignity.”
In 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that Chavez's birthday, March 31, would be recognized as a federal commemorative holiday.
Therefore, whenever you follow a quote by Cesar Chavez, remember that you are drawing inspiration from a remarkable leader.
Story By Britney J Torres
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